Spying on an empire is necessary if you wish to make a carefully calculated and successful attack. You can use the stats from someone else's spy summary, although the preferred method is to do the spying on your own. In order to spy on a kingdom, simply enter in their coven coordinates from the "coven" page, and then click their name. Near the bottom of the page you will see a field where you can enter in the number of spies you wish to send, and also a selection to use your hero/dark knight/prince if you have one yet. It's recommended that you send all of your spies for a higher chance, but it's not required. Just click the button "spy" when you are ready. If you succeed, the information that will be shown is, population ~ Gold ~ Iron ~ Wood ~ Food ~ Adamite and State of Readiness 0%. Also shown is any military units and characters not at home with their return times, and all military units and characters who are at home. A total defense is shown towards the bottom of the analysis, as is any additional information. (information can include if the individual has titan's corner stone or swamp cast on them.) Use the button "click here to Battle Calc" if you wish to see if you can successfully break the kingdom. Now, suppose that you fail the spy attempt.... You will see, Our Spies Failed [ruler's name]. Our chance of getting through was estimated at X%.

We Lost XX Spies.

If you used a hero/prince/dark knight you would see... Our Spies Failed [ruler's name]. Our chance of getting through was estimated at X%. (the % is increased by 20% by using a character alone)

We Lost XX Spies.

[character name] Gained XX Experience.

Let’s talk about Spy to defendant's land ratio first:

Your total number of spies is divided by their total land. So if you have 10,000 thieves and they have 1,000 land, then the number comes to 10. With that ratio you would have a 20% chance. The chances go as follows...

If you have more than...

75 spies to every acre of the enemies land, you have a
~~75% chance
50 spies to every acre
~~50%
25 spies to every acre
~~40%
15 spies to every acre
~~30%
10 spies to every acre
~~20%
5 spies to every acre
~~10%

Of course it takes the highest number, so if you have 80 spies to every acre, it wont combine all of the percentages, rather, it will give you a 75% higher chance. You must send -at least- one spy per acre in order to get through. You will always have at least a 5% chance of spying.

Defendant’s Spy Tower Defense

When spying, the game is coded so that your chance is based on your spies, and also based on the spy tower defense of the defending kingdom. We will go through the percentages below however, I want you to remember that even if it says you have 0% chance of getting through, that doesn’t mean that is what it will be at. There are a lot of different things that need to get added together.

Chances of getting through –

If the defending kingdom has 20% spy towers, you will have 0% chance.
If the defending kingdom has 10% spy towers, you will have 50% chance.
If the defending kingdom has 0% spy towers, you will have 100% chance.

So if you are looking at your spy/defendant land ratio and then the defendant’s spy tower defense, you would add the two percentages together.

Example up to this point: You have 25 spies to every acre of land the defendant has. That will give you 40% chance. The defending kingdom also has 10% spy towers which gives you 50% chance. You will add the 40% chance and 50% chances together to get 90% chance of getting through.

Now that you understand those two aspects of the equation, lets add in spells and characters.

Characters

If you have a prince, hero, or dark knight available to assist you in spying, it will increase your chances, per level of your character. Below outlines the chances:

For a prince or hero it is 2% per level, maxing out at 30%

level 1 = 2%
level 2 = 4%
level 3 = 6%
level 4 = 8%
level 5 = 10%
level 6 = 12%
level 7 = 14%
level 8 = 16%
level 9 = 18%
level 10 = 20%
level 11 = 22%
level 12 = 24%
level 13 = 26%
level 14 = 28%
level 15 = 30%

For a dark knight it is 1% per level, maxing out at 15%

level 1 = 1%
level 2 = 2%
level 3 = 3%
level 4 = 4%
level 5 = 5%
level 6 = 6%
level 7 = 7%
level 8 = 8%
level 9 = 9%
level 10 = 10%
level 11 = 11%
level 12 = 12%
level 13 = 13%
level 14 = 14%
level 15 = 15%

So, taking that same example above: 40% for the spy/land ratio, plus 50% for the spy tower defense… now lets add in a character into the equation. Lets say you had a level 10 hero. That will give you a 20% bonus. So taking the 90% that we got from before, now add in the 20% bonus for using a character. You now have 110% chance of getting through.

Spells: Invisibility and Fog

There are Invisibility Spells, Invisibility Potions, and a Cloak of Invisibility (artifact) that can all assist you in spying/thieving. Fog is an offensive spell that can damage your spying/thieving. Fog and Invisibility can offset each other. Example of that: Your covenmate casts invisibility on you for 25%. Then someone casts fog on you for -50%. That will give you -25%. Then you drink an Invisibility potion for +50%. That will bring your -25% up to +25%

The important thing to remember with the friendly and offensive spells that affect spying/thieving as well as the cloak of invisibility… is that they all get added together and then capped at +/- 50%. You can never get more than 50% or go below -50%. If you have 25% invisibility cast on you and then you drink an invisibility potion for an additional 50%, you will have 50%, not 75% due to the cap.

Lets use the previous example again: You have 110% chance (40% Spy/Land Ratio + 50% Spy Tower Defense + 20% Character) of getting through. Now someone casts fog on you for -50%, but your covenmate see’s this and casts invisibility on you for +25%. That will give you a -25%. We will add that -25% to your current 110% chance of getting through to give you +85% chance.

Farsight Ring

Finally (yes that’s right, we’re not done yet)…. there’s a Farsight ring that, when equipped to a Prince, Dark Knight, or Hero, it will help defend against spying and thieving by their level, and for the second dark knight* it will increase spying defense by half of the level. They have to be on defense though, meaning that they can’t be out on an attack.

So… again, using the same example as above (40% Spy/Land Ratio + 50% Spy Tower Defense + 20% Character + -25% for spells = 85% chance)… lets add in a Farsight Ring. The defender has a level 20 Hero home with a Farsight Ring equipped. A level 20 hero with a farsight ring would give 20 defense. That will give us a -20% chance of getting through. Add that to the 85% chance we have, and we have our final percentage of chance to get through… 65%.

(*Demons can get TWO dark knights, so if both have a farsight ring, the highest level demon's spying defense from the farsight ring is equal to his/her level. The lower level demon's spying defense from the farsight ring is half of the demon's level.)

Exhausting? =P Although it can get confusing and overwhelming… it is not all that difficult once you get use to the numbers. (You should note that you don't have to calculate the numbers, the game will do that for you. We just want to show you how it all works.)